--- r \ ",, ) . ," "J , ,. " .... \: -1'\ '4 ../' ' , \,....." ", \"':. 1 \ t '\' ,,' , I \'; \\ 11 " estinian and Israeli peo- ples, to reach that cul- minating moment in the encounter of two enemies when they mu- tually confess their mis- takes, their crimes, their terrors, and their in- evitable need for each other. ---y ALL I can do today, .r\.. July 21 st, is recall General Ariel Sharon's original battle plan, called Operation Peace for Galilee. Its an- nounced purpose was to protect Israeli settle- ments in Galilee, in northern Israel, by en- tering Lebanon and driving the Palestinian guerrillas back twenty- five miles beyond Is- rael's frontier. It was clear that to pursue the guerrillas farther into Lebanon would en- danger large numbers of Lebanese. The gov- ernment has always in- sisted that the Lebanese people are not the en- emy, and the Lebanese, for their part, have never behaved like an enemy, have never even de- fended themselves. By the Israeli government's own account, the Leb- anese were simply hostages to the P.L.O. Every Lebanese, child or adult, who might be killed or wounded in the course of an Israeli military action would be an innocent bystander. We were led by the government to be- lieve that the advance into Lebanon would last only two or three days-no more than seventy-two hours. I re- member this today because, on the forty-sixth day of the invasion, Pales- tinian guerrillas are still operating in Lebanese territory occupied by the Is- raeli Army. A rocket fired from the area controlled by the Israelis hit a settlement in Galilee, and settlers had to scurry to the shelters. Today, too, Palestinian guerrillas ambushed an Army patrol in Lebanese territory controlled by the Israeli Army, killing five of our soldiers. Despite the dramatic significance of these two events, there is no consensus on them, as is true of so many things here in Israel. Still, they affect our mood. The conclusions about the war \ í;-x . t r-- " .j;' ,,\ J , f lIt: f..t i \ 61 :F -. i I:' i 1 I fOSUY ':1 "- co ,. I \ ,I ! t f J ....... ,0 I I ..,. ...t! ""'...-.-......."". --- - "It's a closely held company" . that we draw at the end of the day- even those reached from opposite points of view-envelop us in feelings of dejection and frustration. Some of us believe that the two incidents re- sulted from the failure to liquidate the Palestinian terrorists holed up in Bei- rut. But others of us think they re- suI ted from our failure to understand history and therefore to realize that Palestinian terrorism against Israel will continue until the Palestinians have a country of their own, until Israel quits Palestinian land on the West Bank and in Gaza to allow the creation of this Palestinian homeland. I t makes no sense to argue that the Palestinians fighting Israeli invaders in Lebanon are terrorists. Yet even if we accept that they are terrorists it is evident to all fair-minded Israelis who have not been made fearful by govern- ment propaganda that the military suppression of some ten thousand ter- rorists (or guerrillas) who arose from the heart of a population of over four million Palestinians will give us at most a tenuous five-year interlude, un- . til the next generation of terrorists (or guerrillas) is ready to resume the armed struggle. History tells us that the new wave of fighters will be more radical, better trained, and more des- perate. The two blows struck today against the euphoria of those who believed that all our problems had come to an end coincide with the pessimism gen- erated by the widespread conviction that there will be a change in our relationship with the United States. They also coincide with reports of rebel action on the West Bank and in Gaza, though the government had as- sured us that our triumphs in Lebanon meant not only peace for Galilee but tranquillity and silence on the occupied West Bank (which Prime Minister Begin refers to as J udea and Samaria). A sensation of despair wells up and envelops even those of us who are op- posed to military solutions, who are against recourse to violence. We are aware that we are still invincible but are not untouchable. Our entire mili- tary capacity cannot stop a couple of